Readers
Rich Horton's Market Summaries:
Summary: Interzone, 2005
This was a promising year for Interzone, as Andy Cox seemed to find his feet editorially. The fictional content improved, and the layout and presentation became more readable and more overtly attractive.
There were a total of 32 stories, 1 novella, 12 novelettes, 18 short-stories, and the first half of a serial, for a total of some 245,000 words of fiction, just under 240,000 words of complete short fiction (holding the serial, a novella by Richard Calder, for counting next year). I caution as ever that Interzone is not easy to do word counts on, and that a few stories were in the 7000-8000 word range, and one novelette was at over 17,000 according to my estimates: thus I may have the various counts slightly off.
The two longest stories were both by Jason Stoddard. "Winning Mars" and "Saving Mars". The first presents a "reality show" on Mars as a way of encouraging colonization, and making money. The second is set years later, involving shabby corporatism on Earth, some hope on Mars, and cynical media manipulation. Both stories combine a cynical view of the future with something approaching Analogish space-boosterism -- and pretty effectively.
Other good novelettes included Dominic Green's "The Clockwork Atom-Bomb", about some dangerous weapons left behind after a war, and the very unfortunate civilian use they have found; Chris Beckett's "Piccadilly Circus", about a mostly virtual London and the curious interactions between the few real people remaining and the virtual inhabitants. There was also a nice Lord Darcy-ish story from Elizabeth Bear, "Wax"; and a fine strange piece from Alaya Dawn Johnson, "Third Day Lights".
The best Interzone short story of the year was Paul Di Filippo's "The Emperor of Gondwanaland", a Borgesian story about a man who meets a woman from a "micronation" called Gondwanaland. I also liked Jeremiah Tolbert's "The Kansas Jayhawk vs the Midwestern Monster Squad" set in a future where the "geeks shall inherit the Earth" -- and where they have encouraged radical and goofy science projects like creating Godzilla-sized monster mascots. And Will McIntosh's "Soft Apocalypses", about VR speed-dating, a decaying future, and one man's troubles with women. And stories by Jessica Reisman ("Boy Twelve"), Deirdre Ruane ("Lost Things Saved in Boxes") and David Ira Cleary ("The Face of America").
